It has long been known that absorbent articles such as conventional taped diapers, pull-on diapers, training pants, sanitary napkins, pantiliners, incontinence briefs, and the like, offer the benefit of receiving and containing urine and/or other bodily exudates. For children who are able to walk and who may be engaged in toilet training, the pull-on diaper has become very popular.
Pull-on diapers are generally designed to effectively contain exudates and can be designed to facilitate self-application. Pull-on diapers generally include a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region between the front waist region and the back waist region. Typically, the front waist region and the back waist region can be attached via pairs of side panels to form a waist opening and a pair of leg openings. Pull-on diapers can be manufactured in a pre-joined configuration such that the front and rear waist regions do not need to be attached by a wearer or caregiver prior to donning the article on the wearer.
Typically, pull-on diapers are also designed to provide sustained fit of the pull-on diaper while the wearer moves. For example, in order to prevent the pull-on diaper from sagging or slipping about the waist of the wearer, pull-on diapers may utilize elastic elements in the waist opening and leg openings. The elastic elements in the waist opening can contract the waist opening around the waist of the wearer while the elastic elements in the leg openings can contract the pull-on diaper around the legs of the wearer. However, for many wearers of pull-on diapers, the waist of the wearer may not necessarily be the narrowest portion of the wearer's torso which is covered by the pull-on diaper. A hip region, just below the waist of the wearer, often has a smaller perimeter than the perimeter of the waist of the wearer. In an attempt to maintain the waist opening of the pull-on diaper at the waist of the wearer, most pull-on diapers utilize elastic elements in the waist opening that provide a relatively high contractive force against the waist of the wearer. However, if the waist opening of the pull-on diaper does slip down to the hip region, the smaller perimeter of the hip region can reduce the contractive force applied by the elastic elements in the waist opening thereby making the pull-on diaper more susceptible to sagging or slipping on the wearer.
Unfortunately, the relatively high contractive force of the elastic elements in the waist opening may tend to mark the skin of the wearer. Additionally, this problem may be exacerbated if the elastic elements utilize thin elastic members which can increase localized forces against the waist of the wearer.
Another problem is that a high contractive force in an elastic element in the waist opening can make the pull-on diaper difficult to apply for either the caregiver or the wearer. In addition, for pull-on diapers which are refastenable, an elastic element in the waist opening with a relatively high contractive force may give the caregiver a false perception that the pull-on diaper is too small for the wearer.
Other pull-on diapers, may position elastic strands across the front waist region, back waist region, and a portion of the crotch region, of the pull-on diaper in order to prevent the pull-on diaper from sagging or slipping about the waist of the wearer. However, while these additional elastic strands may contract the front and back waist regions of the pull-on diaper, they can also contract a portion of the crotch region of the pull-on diaper. The contracting of the portion of the crotch region may cause the absorbent core to be gathered and bunched in the crotch region. Unfortunately, this gathering and bunching of the absorbent core can result in a higher risk of leakage from the pull-on diaper. Moreover, this gathering of the absorbent core can also detrimentally affect the aesthetic appeal and comfort of the pull-on diaper.
Consequently, a need exists for a disposable pull-on garment which facilitates donning the pull-on garment on a wearer while still providing sustained fit. There is also a need for a disposable pull-on garment which reduces the possibility of leakage from the disposable pull-on garment while providing sustained fit.